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Conservative MP and London Mayor Boris Johnson continued his flirtation with Brexit, telling the BBC: “I want to be part of a reformed EU, but if we can’t get the reform we need then Britain has a great, great future elsewhere and outside, in a different relationship.”

I want to be part of a reformed EU, but if we can’t get the reform we need then Britain has a great, great future elsewhere and outside, in a different relationship

Their Grassroots Out (or GO) campaign to mobilise ordinary people behind the cause of leaving the EU comes amid continuing uncertainty over which of two rival groups, Leave.EU and Vote Leave, will win watchdogs’ official designation as the main Out campaigner when the referendum is called.

Tory MP Peter Bone told BBC Two’s Daily Politics: “We’re working together, across the country. “We can’t wait until the PM’s negotiations are finished, we have to get up and running now.”

Leave.EU cofounder and Ukip donor Arron Banks yesterday spelled out the arguments for Brexit at a debate with Will Straw, head of the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign.

Mr Banks told journalists at the Foreign Press Association in London that economic problems and imbalances between European countries meant EU membership was “tantamount to a first-class ticket on an economic Titanic”.

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UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage is part of a cross-party group wanting to leave the EU

He conceded that leaving would entail some discomfort but insisted Britain would thrive outside Brussels’ clutches. “It’s like a divorce. There’s going to be pain…but when we went in there was pain – our fisheries policy got destroyed, all sorts of bad things,” he said.

“Coming out means there will be a readjustment but it’s better for the country.”

He rejected claims that the UK would be endangered by Brexit because Scotland would hold another referendum to become independent if the rest of the UK voted to quit the EU.

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London Mayor Boris Johnson continued his flirtation with Brexit

Mr Straw insisted that the benefits of EU membership far outweighed the costs. The Prime Minister met German politicians including the CSU party’s Gerda Hasselfeldt in Bavaria yesterday before becoming the first British premier in 10 years to visit Hungary.

It was the latest stage in his bid to win leaders’ backing for his agenda ahead of a crunch EU summit on February 18.

But he was warned by Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban not to brand Hungarians working in Britain “parasites” or even “migrants” – but to treat them as fellow EU citizens with a right to be here.

“According to our estimates, Hungarians in the UK pay more contributions and taxes than the benefits they get,” he said.